Blackstar
by LaylaBrangwin
Summary: Twenty something college drop out Lena Kavanagh unwantedly starts a prolific career in the occult arts as the henchwoman of a certain dream demon trapped in human form by a space Axolotl. *Rewrote first chapter/added prologue*
1. Rising Blackstar

"Sixty degrees that come in threes.

Watches from within birch trees.

Saw his own dimension burn.

Misses home and can't return.

Says he's happy. He's a liar.

Blame the arson for the fire.

If he wants to shirk the blame,

He'll have to invoke my name.

One way to absolve his crime.

A different form, a different time."

Formless and rageful, the disembodied spirit of Bill Cipher crossed a myriad of galaxies, a myriad of universes, on a moment's notice. He didn't know where he was going, an unseen force had pulled him out of Stanley Pines' mind right before it burned down and doomed him to non existence. How could they have tricked him so easily? All he had strived for, his million years long scheme, all came down to nothing in the blink of an eye.

Why did humans resist him so much? Why couldn't Sixer just take his deal? He had offered him everything a human could possibly imagine, whatever he wanted, Bill could make it true. But he chose to oppose him. He chose the boringly sick and sterile order of things. He chose to abide the laws, and condemned his tiny little town and subsequently the whole world to a decrepit existence.

What was so wrong with his worldview that humans resisted him so much? What's the point of living in a world plagued with 'natural laws', that he never agreed to in the first place? Laws designed and forced upon existence by someone else. The so called 'order of things' was an imposition, an evil that should be rooted out, and if doing so called for the end of existence, then existence should come to an end.

The darkness of the empty space at the end of all worlds came to an abrupt end when a flash of multicolored light permeated all around him and within him. He almost welcomed the intrinsic peace that usually came from this solitary room hanging at the edge of everything that was, but he knew better than taking the condescendence of a giant pink amphibian floating in space.

"Welcome again." As if the sole thought of the Axolotl was enough to conjure his presence, the frilly creature materialized in Bill's mind eye. The damn thing could hear his thoughts, he always forgot about that.

"Why I am here?" Bill asked in thought, anger still lingering in the back of his mind.

"You know why." The crystal clear voice of the Axolotl spoke. "You invoked my name."

"I did." Bill admitted. There was no point in lying to the Axolotl. How do you cheat something that is technically omniscient? The only reason why it didn't interfere in Bill's plans was because it was too move its cosmic butt across time and space and personally do something about it. What Bill had aspired to for a million years the Axolotl could achieve in the blink of an eye, but it rarely intervened in anyone's issues. It was pretty content with just watching from a distance how things turned out on their own for the rest of the multiverse. Like a universal peeping tom.

"So, what do you want?" The Axolotl asked.

"You already know what I want! Do you want me to beg?" Bill protested.

The Axolotl chuckled. "Well, a little humility wouldn't hurt, would it? But I guess it's not in your nature."

"Did you bring me here just to make fun of me?"

"No, I brought you here because you wanted me to save your ass from oblivion" The Axolotl merrily declared. "And you know what comes with that. You will have to pay for your crimes. I assume you don't regret a thing you did back there, do you?"

"Spare me the guilt trip, dad." Bill mocked.

"I'm not your dad. You took care of your dad a long time ago, didn't you? Of all your kin, actually." The Axolotl replied. Bill felt as if it had punched him right in the stomach, if he had had one, that is. He didn't know what that feeling was, but if it was guilt or shame, the Axolotl surely took notice of it. "There's more to you than meets the eye, Bill Cipher."

"Cut the chase. What do you want?" Bill asked.

The Axolotl made a twirl in the void. "You come in threes, so three trials I'll place upon you." it sang, puzzling Bill " You tried to join the realm of nightmares to the world of humans, wreaking havoc on both, for that crime you will now walk aimlessly between them, never completely in one place.

You gained unlimited power to claim dominion over all that is; you will keep your power, but you won't be able to wield it.

And lastly, you scorched hundreds of human lives to satisfy your lust, thus a human form you shall take."

"What? No, wait!" Cried Bill, but the vision of the Axolotl was already becoming blurry.

"We'll meet again, soon enough. Until then, good luck!"

And as the meaning of those words sank within Bill Cipher, he was pulled again, faster than light. He was out of the Axolotl's lair, and thrown right into the void.

* * *

I can't answer why (I'm not a gangster)  
But I can tell you how (I'm not a flam star)  
We were born upside-down (I'm a star star)  
Born the wrong way 'round (I'm not a white star)  
(I'm a blackstar)

When Lena woke up that morning, she knew it was going to be a shitty day. As she lay down on her bed, her eyes searched the old studio apartment she called her home. Her small window opened on the back alley of her building, and only the last rays of the late afternoon would fall through it, lightning up the usually cold one room apartment with a warm orange note. Her head ached fiercely, and every pump of blood into her skull reminded her she should stop binging on week days. She should stop doing a lot of things, and start a few other, she thought as she removed her high-school-now-turned-to-pijamas shirt and searched the floor next to her bed for something to wear before abandoning the comfort and safety of her blankets for the sharp cold of her kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. The first thing that came to her mind was that apartment could really use some decluttering. It was depressingly grey and poorly lit from the go, and her mess was not making it look any better. She could also save up some money and renew her wardrobe and go for something nice enough she would actually mind not leaving on the floor. She could also get a new, better paying, job and just move to a better, or at least less musty and dark, apartment.

But for today, a pair of worn out jeans, a green shirt and her shitty job would do.

She turned the small radio in her night table on to get the early morning news and left her bed. She didn't mind leaving alone, she wasn't sure she could ever find a roommate that would tolerate her perks, but she did enjoyed the company the sound of the radio provided, even if it was only a background noise. The radio host voice greeted her with news of a local arson fire in a factory had killed three workers during the night. Also, you can now get a 25% discount on your next meal at a very popular fast food chain if you flash your id card. And there would be no trains to drogheda station after a section of wall loaded with concrete and cabins collapsed sending rubble across all lines and taking overhead wires with it. God had been certainly busy that night.

She put the kettle on the stove and waited for it to boil anxiously. She needed her coffee fast, extra black, extra large, with extra sugar and extra aspirin. And to go. Hitting the snooze button a few times until it's too late to shower, have breakfast, or comb her hair and then rushing to work was the only daily routine that she observed almost religiously. Fortunately she had great hair, even after being bleached and dyed several times during Lena's high school years. Since then she had returned it to her original bright brown color and wore it parted to the side with a side swept bang.

As she waited, she felt something was odd. The radio had gone off.

She walked back to the bedroom area and checked the small plastic device. The power button was lighted up, but there was no sound coming out. Nothing would come out either in any other channel. She turned up the volume. Nothing.

"Perfect" she thought as she left it back on the table, the kettle was loudly summoning back into the kitchen. She put one too many spoons of instant coffee in her travel mug, poured in the hot water from the kettle, mixed it up, and the hot black liquid panacea was ready for fueling purposes.

She was reaching a certain age when a drinking binge equals getting massive hangovers that will keep most people from being a functioning member of society the next day, but she didn't feel like a functioning member of society to begin with, so she didn't mind. And it's not like her boss would notice, she makes sure to be extremely unproductive on a daily basis as to not raise any eyebrows when she's actually physically inept for the job. It's true that being a software developer doesn't usually require you to be particularly athletic, but it does imply you need to stay awake during work hours. A task proven to be most difficult when one hates their job, but still need it to pay the rent.

With her keys in one hand, door handle in the other and her teeth strongly clenching her mug, Lena was ready to leave for work, when her radio decided to come back to the living, startling her with a loud static noise.

"I thought I turned it off." she thought, going back to the bedroom area to fetch the damn thing. It was her fault after all, for buying cheap electronics. The static became louder as she came closer, after putting down her coffee, freeing itself, her hand reached for the small black device when a sharp, rising tone cut the static short.

Lena stared in disbelief. It was a high pitch tone that kept rising and rising. And rising again.

"What the-? Really? A Shepard's tone?" An auditory illusion, Lena remembered, the Shepard's Tone does in sound what the old-fashioned barbershop pole does visually, seemingly rise forever.

"You got it Blackstar! Don't touch that dial now, WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!"- An echoey male voice inside the radio answered.

The voice hit her like a lightning bolt and she instinctively jumped back as she dropped the radio to the ground. She choked a scream of fear in her throat and stared at the black box. Did the radio talk back to her just right now? Her hand frantically searched for her keys in her pocket as the radio was now playing an old catchy tune.

"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream, make him the cutest that I've ever seen...". The Chordettes sang as Lena rushed out the door. Her heart was still racing when she reached the street, her blood strongly gushing into her cheeks and limbs.

If a cheap trick could make her so upset, his big entrance would certainly make her faint, Bill thought, as he glanced at the purple travel mug on the night's table. She had forgotten her coffee. Poor thing. She was really going to have a shitty day.


	2. Does Hell have Tech Support?

Lena walked through the streets of Ballymun with haste. It was early morning and the wispy and white clouds covered the sky, with chinks of light that managed to get through. The air was dry and bitterly cold. She hated it. The wind penetrated her black, overused coat with ease. But she was too busy to pay attention. She failed to notice the tip of her nose turning red and the numbness on her face.

She couldn't pinpoint when her head decided she was not going to get on the bus and would rather walk to work. Grumbling to herself she lit a cigarette. She had quitted smoking when she dropped out of college, but old habits die hard and she kept a pack in her bag in case she needed a nicotine fix to calm her down. And she did need some soothing that morning. Even if it came along with some carcinogen along the way.

The radio spoke to her. It wasn't her imagination, was it? Could it just have been a coincidence? It had to be a coincidence, she thought. But how probable was for the radio to do something like that? The failed math major in her pushed to come through. It didn't seem quite likely, did it? But if she wanted the opinion of a mathematician she would have graduated from college and would be working for an important university in a far off place like Tokyo, or something equally exotic and fancy, instead of fixing the database of a supermarket's online delivery service and getting paid €20 per hour.

Besides, there was no point worrying about it. Weirder things had happened to her before, and she had always been safe and sound afterwards. Lena called it her "odd luck".

During a birthday party in sixth correctly guessed thirty-three times in a row which song would come up next on a shuffled 90's boyband playlist. What amazed her the most about it was that the sumed up number of boyband's song was larger than 33. She was also discouraged from attending birthday parties for the next two years.

She always won the 2nd prize at her yearly school raffle. Even if she only bought one ticket.

She remembered a time when she went out for drink with a friend in her short lived college years. Everything was going well, she had just finished her first pint when she went out for a smoke… and then bang. She woke up in her bed, the following morning, with no recollection of the previous night and her hair dyed pink. She didn't recall when or how she had gotten there, but she had 13 missed calls from her friend. When she called her back she said Lena had left her alone in the pub. When she went out to look for her she was nowhere to be found, but some other female acquaintances had spotted Lena through the night in different bars, drinking by herself, and with brown hair.

She also remembered how night terrors would plague her as a child, she used to wake up screaming and stretching her small hands into the air, into an unseen presence, yet persistently dense in the girl's mind. But her grandma would always rush to her aid when her screams and gasps woke her from her sleep and held her close to her chest. Lena felt that nothing in the world could harm her for as long as she was held by those motherly arms. Lena's grip on the old woman's nightgown would only loosen when she was sang back to sleep by the sound of her grandma's beating heart, next to her ear. The night terrors subsided over time, coming to an end when Lena reached the age of seven. And every single time, her grandma would console her in the middle of the night, even after passing away when Lena was six.

Lena felt pretty alone after her grandma never came back to visit. She wished for the nightmares to come back, just once, if it meant she would see her grandma again. She learned a harshful truth then, even those who love you will eventually leave you. And that death was quite permanent. Her mother never believed her, and threatened to take her to a shrink if she kept telling her classmates stories about her "ghostly grandma". That was never going to happen. She knew from an early age her mother didn't care enough about her to take her to therapy. She wouldn't even take her to a regular doctor when she was sick if it didn't mean she wouldn't get her welfare payments anymore.

Reminiscing about her progenitor was enough of a bummer to make the radio incident take a back seat in her thought train.

"You are late, again, Kavanagh."- her boss spatted, switching off her autopilot. She had reached her office while lost in thought, and had certainly dropped her pace somewhere in the middle as she did in fact arrived slightly later than she expected. Brian Kelly was certainly not the most brilliant boss, or the most efficient one, or the most eloquent, but he was definitely punctual. He liked to keep his little mineworkers in place right on time. He was a tall, commanding figure, with greased blond hair and a penchant for khaki pants. He was the poster child of corporate ineptitude, and the only aspect that contributed to his project manager position was that he was a complete pro when it came to the intricate art of ass kissing the client.

\- Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that. I had a minor inconvenience back at home and I lost my bus.-said Lena and proceeded to the office kitchen. She still needed her coffee. Any coffee.

\- You do know we have a release to web delivery on friday, right? - He pursued her.

\- No, I don't. I have a serious case of retrograde amnesia and I have utterly forgotten about the last thirty or so friendly reminders you have kindly sent me over the course of the past week. Jesus Christ, Kelly, give it a rest.- Lena replied, pouring coffee into a mug she found over the shelf and subsequently burrowed without waiting for the owner's approval.

\- Does your amnesia include the tiny little fact that the client will be paying us a visit on friday as well? Did you forget about that? - Said Kelly

\- No, I didn't forget about that.- Lena sighed, taking a sip.- I just didn't care.

\- Are you trying to ruin me, Kavanagh? Are you trying to bring the whole team down with you into the little hell hole you call your life?- Kelly, placing his arm on the wall next to Lena, intending to look menacing.

\- Wow! Feeling witty today, aren't we? I'm not trying to ruin you. I don't care when our clients come over. I don't talk to them, I thought keep the client happy was your job. I can't get the site up and running on time if I'm too busy wagging my tail trying to appease the company's benefactors. It's on the job description. Read my contract.

\- Just get it done.-He said as he bursted out of the kitchen.

Lena treasured every second of every minute in the office that she didn't have to hear Kelly talking. She went to her desk in the other side of the office, spinning a little on her wheeled chair when she sat down. There were about twenty to thirty people on her floor, in teams of five or six. Lena's group was particularly small, with only four people. The office was painted white, the wall that faced the main street had floor-to-ceiling windows that provided more than enough lightning. On top of her desk sat two computer screens, Lena was accustomed to use dual monitors to work. It helped keep track of more lines of code simultaneously, and even though she would never admit it, she also used them because they made her look cooler.

Before she could get her station running, a giggly voice spoke behind her.

\- Morning, sunshine.-

\- Sorry I'm late Missy. Got some electrical malfunction at work- Said Lena, turning back to face her team mate. Missy Regan was her frontend developer. A short, chubby, thirty-something years old with blond curls and big bright blue eyes. Out of everyone in the office, Lena tolerated Missy the most. She couldn't say she LIKED her, liking is a very strong word. Everything about her, from her high pitch tone, to her patent leather pink purse and her rosebud hand cream that she religiously applied every hour, exuded with glitter and girliness. She didn't fit the mold for how computer programmer should be, according to T.V standards. Not that Lena was a perfect match, but Missy was the absolute antithesis of the trope, and Lena could positively say she did like that about her.

-It's ok.-Missy replied, patting her shoulder.- Fred and Mike called in sick, so it's only the two of us.

-So Kelly won't stop pestering me around about friday's delivery, but Fred and Mike can take as many days off as they want and no one bats an eye.- Said Lena, venting out. Missy shrugged and sank back into her computer, Lena followed. There were some bugs left to fix from yesterday but overall the application was running smoothly. It was a small project that consisted in making a web application for a retail store that would allow them to sell their products online. Piece of cake, Lena thought. But according to Kelly even though the client was very generous, monetarily speaking at least, he was also very picky when it came to the end product and any mistake with this delivery, regardless of how minuscule it was, was a potential dealbreaker.

Lena fixed the bugs, and looking proudly at her code, proceeded to compile it and waited for it to be done. And waited. And Waited.

-There's a syntax error.- Lena said, unconvinced.- Must have screwed something up when I fixed those bugs, apparently.

-Well, it happens to the best of us.-Said Missy, rising from her desk- I was about to take my lunch break, wanna grab a bite together and then check it out? I'm sure it's nothing.

-Yeah. I'm sure I just misspelled something, but I want to get it done ASAP. You go ahead, I'll catch you in five minutes.-Answered Lena, her eyes fixed on the computer screen.

She reviewed the code she had just wrote to fix the bugs. She couldn't find anything. She tried to compile again. A new syntax error came up. She checked the code again. Nothing. She was getting angry at her code baby. It was not a cute baby anymore. It didn't make any sense. There wasn't any logical error she could pinpoint. Lena repeated this process long enough for Missy to be back from her lunch break.

-Still not working?-Asked Missy, peeking curiously over Lena's shoulder to take a look on the code. The dual monitors were off and Lena was using her laptop, typing furiously fast. In Lena's spectrum of body language, nothing said "serious business" like that.

-I don't get it. My code is perfect!- Lena exclaimed.

-Modesty aside, uh?- Joked Missy.

-No, seriously. I checked everything. I can find no mistake. I'm just going to erase my fixes for today and revert back to the old version of the code. I don't know what else to do.

-Sounds good to me.-

Lena's pride was slightly hurt when she reverted the code to the previous revision, and for the first time that day it compiled correctly. Lena sighed with discontent. All of her work of the day was lost and she would have to re-fix all the bugs she had worked on during the morning.

-Well, it's working now. Missy I'm going to take my lunch break now.-Said Lena, stretching out her arms and laying back on her chair.

-Yeap. Everything is up and running in the developer's environment at least. Front end looks good, I guess.- Said Missy.

\- "I guess?" What do you mean by "I guess?"-Inquired Lena, unable to hire a hint of exasperation in her tone.

-Oh! Don't take it so personally. Look. There's a download link in the home page, it links to a file in the database. Did you put that in there? It's certainly not in the user interface design the client approved. I guess you wouldn't have noticed. You backend developers pay no attention to the user interface- Said Missy.

Lena jumped from her seat and glanced at Missy's screen. There was download link indeed, right in the center of the home screen, alone, and incredibly misplaced. The name of the file was '326'. It was a sound file. Lena sank back into her chair with her notebook on her knees and put on her headphones. She searched the database, her database, for the intruder file. A sound clip. She found it, it was only a couple of seconds long. Her index finger hesitated before clicking on it.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH THAT DIAL."

All the hairs in Lena's body raised, and she felt a bolt of electricity run down through her spine. It was the same male voice from before. She tried to calm down, it had to be an office prank. Someone was trying to mess with her head, she thought. She clicked play again, perhaps she could recognize the voice on the other side.

"YOU CAN'T MESS WITH WHAT'S ALREADY FUCKED UP, BLACKSTAR. But thanks for the compliment."

Lena froze. She couldn't move. What did just happen? Her heart wanted out of her chest and she felt as if it was going to rip out of her ribcage. Her blood was pounding in her ears, soundly.

"Calm down, don't have a stroke and die on me, you are 75 years too early for that."

The sound clip played again, only this time it did it on its own. Lena stared blankly at the computer screen and saw how an invisible force pushed the play button yet again.

"Listen, kiddo,-the echoey voice continued- you and I need to sit down and have a very serious business talk, I have a great business opportunity right here waiting for ya. Mind if I come by tonight? I'm sure you wo-"

Lena cut the one way conversation mid sentence by closing the her laptop and removing her headphones. She struggled with every fiber of her being to remain composed.

-What's wrong honey? You are white as a ghost- A sked Missy, turning around.

-Sorry, I gotta get home. Something came up.-Said Lena with a blank stare, her hands frantically picking up her stuff from her desktop. She felt she was about to snap.

-Oh dear! Is everything ok? Do you need anything?-Asked Missy with concern. Lena didn't reply. She bolted to the emergency exit. She galloped down the stairs.

-Mom was right-she said to herself-I need a shrink.


	3. Dream a Little Dream of Me

Her heart was beating so strong Lena felt it was going to break through her ribs and out of her chest, for the third time that day. Or she was going to have a stroke. She was definitely going to have a stroke, or perhaps the stroke already happened and that's why she was hearing things. Hearing voices. Very annoying, echoey voices.

She locked the door of her home and collapsed against it, holding her knees, trying to catch her breath. Lena had ran back home from work, her lungs about to burst. Was someone following her? Stalking her? Playing a very elaborate prank on her?

Either that or she was going insane.

Her phone was buzzing in her pocket, it was Missy. Again. Lena declined the call with a custom text message, and turned it off.

She recalled what happened over and over and over again in her head, with a certain distrust of her memories. After all, her head could be the source of all this mess.

It did say it was going to come at night, right?. "He" said. Lena checked the door behind her was properly locked, and proceeded to check the windows, even the small window on the kitchen wall. It was too small for anyone to come in, but she was hearing voices, logic no longer applied. Half of her came to the conclusion her mind was playing games, the stress of work finally taking its toll on her mental health, the other half claimed the one playing games was an external source. If the latter was true someone probably had tampered with her stuff, which meant someone had been in her apartment. Suddenly, the thought of going insane felt safer.

Lena checked the radio in her night table and opened the black plastic casket, but she couldn't find any signs of tampering, even though she had no clues what she was supposed to be looking for. As a precautionary measure, she didn't reassemble it.

Her one room home was turning darker, the sun was setting, and Lena wondered if she was really going to welcome any uninvited guest that night. She collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering who could be the man behind that prank. Kelly was not smart enough as to pull that off. Her former boyfriend? No, according to his social media profile, which Lena positively didn't check twice or thrice a week with a fake account, he was "on tour" with his band in London. And she hadn't seen him in five years, since they splited. Or as Lena remembers it, when that deadbeat excuse for a guitarist broke up with her and forgot about her existence on this planet without breaking a sweat. One day he's taking your clothes off in a bus station bathroom and the next he won't return any of your 3 A.M. texts. Fucker.

Lena grew more anxious by the minute, fear turning into curiosity, rising steadily. The room became fully dark and the only source of light was Lena's notebook. She had, hesitantly, taken it out of her bag and opened it. The audio player was still on her screen. She wanted to hear that voice again. How did it call her again? Blackstar.

-Hello there, stranger- She thought, as she clicked the play button. But this time, the file was empty. She played it again. Nothing. There was no voice, no sound. Nothing.

Lena closed her notebook in exasperation. Her mind was the one playing the tricks on her, wasn't it? It was no news to her that her brain would frequently conspire against her best interests, so having a psychotic breakdown was really not that far fetched. Although she always pictured her descent into insanity as something way more picturesque, and with more things on fire. She sunk back into her bed, with her hands behind her neck.

-It's very rude of you to run away in the middle of a conversation, Blackstar.-An ethereal, echoey voice said, startling her. Lena jumped out of bed in a flash.- If you ever do that again I swear I'll switch your blood for acid. Good thing you finally fell asleep. I was getting tired of EVPing you. The name's Bill Cipher. Nice to officially meet you.

She couldn't believe her eyes. In an instant the apartment was well lit, and everything was painted in shades of black and white. Everything, except the man standing in front of her. He had tanned skin and black streaked blond hair, with bangs covering his left eye and gold earing in his visible ear. His slitted right eye was golden, and emitted an eerie glow. He was wearing a black suit, with black shirt and a golden tie, that fitted perfectly his tall and slender figure, with an angular face too proportioned to be anything other than a magazine model.

Lena tried in vain to run, but she couldn't move. It wasn't fear what had her paralyzed, it was that her body had been freezed in motion. Her feet felt as if they had been nailed to the floor, and her body refused to obey her commands.

-Now, now, first impressions are REALLY important in any business transaction, I know that, and I assure you I don't want to come off as rude, Blackstar. But taking into account your previous reactions to my attempts at a proper introduction YOU have technically forced ME to draw upon some precautionary restraints. And I'm assuming you won't be particularly mad at me over this, I have heard you love being restrained, don't you?

All of Lena's will power shifted from trying to move her legs and run away to trying to move her arm and punch Bill right in the face.

-A feisty one, aintcha? Sorry Blackstar but you are in the Mindscape now, a.k.a my playground. Simply put, while this REM cycle of yours lasts, my will is your command. -The man said, crossing his legs and sitting in mid air, to Lena's surprise.- But for the time being, the only thing I command you to do is hear me out. I'm gonna let you talk now, but if you scream I will tear one of your limbs apart.

His fingers snapped and Lena regained control of her vocal cords and tongue. She opened her mouth, just to check she could actually move it, and close it again. Her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her. She knew she was dreaming then, but she felt everything to be oddly real. Things looked blurred, like they usually did in dreams, but her thoughts were crystal clear.

-My sole presence in your dream increases your overall awareness of it. You can thank me later.- The confident smirk on his face enraged her, he was reading her thoughts. She refrained from vociferating the myriad of vulgarities she had in store for the blond. In fact, she refrained from saying anything.

-Hey it's not my fault. This is the mindscape, your thoughts are on display. And I'm making an extra effort to keep your unconscious from coming through. So I'll have to ask you to make a special effort and refrain yourself from indulging in one of your dirty little wet dreams of late while we talk, like the one from last week you desperately try to forget where you were fooling around with your boss… What? Cat got your tongue? - He said, materializing one of said muscular organs in the palm of his hand, and squeezing it. Lena didn't react. And she wouldn't. She would hold on to what little was still under her control, and if possible, use it in her advantage to piss him off. - Well, let's get down to business, shall we? I have come to offer you a one of a kind deal, kid. One that will greatly improve this miserable life of yours. History's greatest sages would trade their blood and livestock for an opportunity like this, and I'm offering it to YOU. Have you ever imagined something as grandiose as this could possibly happen to a underachiever jane doe such as yourself?

-I think you forgot the first rule of business, you don't paralyze your customers. If you were kind enough to release me I would consider listening to what you have to say-Lena said, coldly.

-You are in no position to bargain, Blackstar.-He replied.

-Apparently, I am. You want to make a deal with me, don't you? I guess one can call that a bargain.- She was sure she glimpsed a hint of anger briefly cross his face. She felt content.

-It seems you don't quite understand the position you are in. Do you?- He said, crossing his arms.

-This is a dream, you said it yourself. This isn't real. You are a figment of my imagination, an unpleasant one to say the least. Don't know, maybe you are the representation of an unsolved childhood conflict with my dad or something like that.

-You humans are very stupid. But I'll humour you, just once.-He said, and with a shake of his hand, Lena was able to move again, and felt right onto the floor. The pain did feel real.

-What do you want anyways?-Lena said, standing up. She noticed they were no longer in her room, but she couldn't tell exactly when they left. They were somewhere in space. She stumbled at the realization she was standing on nothing. Bill didn't seem to care. A pair of teacups and a kettle materialized between them. Bill laid back, as the kettle, by itself, poured some tea in his cup. Lena copied his moves and sat in mid air. To her surprise, she didn't fall. The kettle filled Bill's cup, turned around and poured tea in hers. She grabbed the cup hesitantly, placing it closer to her eyes to examine it.

-What I want is very simple. You see, some time ago I got scammed. Badly. My mistake, happens to the best of us. It was a very bad business transaction and I lost a lot of my networth, so I'm trying to get back on my feet. The best way to get it done is to expand my network into the human realm, I already got myself a nice meat suit and all to mingle among you, flesh bags. -He said, a hand browsing through his chest.- But in order to do so I need a human proxy. Without one, there's very little I can do out there. Enough to scare you out, though.- Lena's eyes moved from the teacup to Bill's. So he was trying to scare her after all.

-Let's pretend for one minute that this is actually real, and you are not just the unconscious manifestation of a childhood trauma of mine. Let me rephrase my question, what do you want from ME exactly?

-Straight to the point as always, Blackstar. I like that. I want you to be my human proxy. If you strike a deal with me, your soul will act as an anchor for me into your plane. What's in for you? I'll become your familiar, that is, I'll provide you with the accumulated knowledge of a billion years. You'll get a glimpse behind the grey curtain of reality. You'll see the world behind the world. Through your bond with me nature will bond to your commands. There'll be literally nothing you can't do, in human terms.

-yeah, so, kinda lA while ago I got scammedike magic?-Lena asked, trying to hide her curiousity, taking a sip of tea. Bill gasped with frustration.

-WHY ARE YOU HUMANS SO BASIC. YES, LIKE MAGIC.- He yelled, throwing back his head .

-Geez, calm down. Just checking. So, I let you in into the human plane and you give me magical powers.

-Well, no. I will provide you with knowledge, that's true, but I won't give you magic per se, I will enable you to use magic. Two different things.

-I don't see any difference. -Said Lena, putting down her cup.- So, what are you? A demon?

-Well, your kind has always labeled me as a demon. And a few have called me a god. Very flattering. I have many names. -Bill answered, making a triangle with his hands on his visible eye. Lena noticed that he had a black eyepatch where his left eye was supposed to be. - You are taking this awfully calm. Why is that?

-Well, for starters I don't believe any of this to be real.-Lena shurgged.

-Oh, you will see how real all of this is quite soon. In any case, we dont have much time left for today, you are about to wake up.

-How do you know that?- Lena said, as Bill rose from his invisible sit and moved towards her. He placed his face inches from hers, and placed his hand under her chin, raising her head to make sure she was looking at him. Lena swallowed. She didn't know you could blush in a dream.

-Because you always wake up when you die.-Bill said, merrily, and plunged an unseen knife through her chest.-I'll see you again soon enough Blackstar, and remember, I'm always watching.

Lena felt the knife slice out of her body as Bill pushed her back. She felt she was falling back, and then she woke up. It was late in the morning and her phone was ringing. Hadn't she turned if off? She remembered she had stayed awake waiting for something, anything to happen, till the break of dawn, when she felt safe enough to close her eyes and get some sleep. She reached for her phone on her night table, and found 20 new text messages. They came from her own phone number. And they all read the same.

'Always watching'


	4. Deal breaker

"Lena, honey, are you alright?" Missy asked, almost rhetorically. She could tell by the smudged eyeliner on her face, her mussed hair and the dark circles under her eyes that the brunette had pulled an all nighter and never left the office; hunched over her computer, secretively typing away the hundreds lines of code she could bring into existence whenever she over focused. There was genius in her work, Missy thought, and it was also the trait of a genius to forget about the basic principles of personal hygiene when their heads are so wrapped around something.

"Yeap." Lena answered without taking her eyes off the monitor. The drumming of her fingers against the keyboard was loud and relentless.

"You don't look alright to me." Missy pursued, moving her chair closer to Lena's.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Lena said, eyeing Missy, a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I don't know, maybe because you have been working for 36 hours straight, and I haven't seen you leave your desk other than for getting more coffee… and going to the bathroom I hope."

"Well… no rest for the wicked, right? Kelly has been breathing down our necks. Gotta get this baby up and running by noon." Lena said, running her hands through her messy hair.

"Since when do you care about what Kelly says?" Missy asked.

"Never did. Never will." Lena said with a half smile. " But truth is I wasted a lot of time the other day and I need to get this to work."

"No one can blame you for getting the runs, you know?" Said Missy, much to Lena's dismay. "Besides, it's just a demo. No one expects the demo to be free of bugs. As long as it runs like it usually does we will be fine. What worries me is that in your sleep deprived state you mess something up."

"I didn't have the run- Jeez, never mind. I have been flaming the night before our last three or four demos, right? I can handle a tiny all nighter this time, dontcha think?"

"I hope so." Missy said, moving her chair back to her station. Lena sighed. She wasn't sure she could actually handle it. The application was barely running and for every bug Lena fixed there were three or more waiting around the corner, all of them keen on making the engine crash and burn. She wasn't thinking straight. Her brain was begging for unconsciousness, but she couldn't have it. She was afraid of falling asleep. Afraid was not a term she was particularly fond of, especially when she didn't know what she was afraid of. A ghost? Her own overstressed mind? Mental disease? A very resourceful stalker? She didn't know. But she could give it a name. Bill Cipher. She couldn't forget that name even if she tried. The dream felt oddly real and made her wonder if that was what people called 'Lucid Dreaming'. 'He' felt very real. His menacing aura, his annoying echoey voice, the urge to punch him in the face. But dreams are not real. And audio files don't talk back to you. And your phone doesn't send itself the same message over and over again.

She would try to rationalize it, to make sense of the things that had happened. The more anxious she became, the more she intellectualized. Looking at the problem from every single point of view she could think of, satisfying the need to dissect every aspect of the situation and clinically examine it and feeling good about herself for a second. As if every problem could be solved by sheer brilliance of thought. She could come up with a thousand theories of how and why but then none of them could explain why her phone was getting the same text message every fifteen minutes and why it came from her own number, and she would sank back into her computer feeling defeated and work on her code. That, she could make sense of. At least for the day.

"Always watching"

Someone was very persistent in ensuring she got the message. So Lena did the only logical thing and crashed her phone against her desk.

She tried to remain fixed on her work until the stench of cheap cologne signaled Kelly's arrival. Lena caught him leering at her out of the corner of her eye as he greeted everybody else in the office. Lena lowered her head and dived in her work, trying to avoid further eye contact. But Kelly was like a shark, circling his prey, able to detect the faintest smell of fear instead of blood.

"Nice to see you working for once." Lena felt his breath behind her neck and turned quickly, rattled by his presence. Kelly was wearing a navy suit with a white shirt and blue tie, the kind he would always wear when he was to meet the client, and even though all of Kelly's suits looked fancy they never fitted him right. The jacket was always too big and roomy and made Lena wonder if it wasn't an unconscious attempt on his part to look manly and imposing.

"Too bad I can't say the same thing about you." Lena answered.

"I hope you got that thing up and running, because your ass is on the line here." kelly said, fixing the knot on his tie.

"How encouraging. Yes, it will be up and running. I have fixed most bugs and now it's barely crashing."

"Barely?" Kelly said, a small vein on his forehead popping up. He ran his hand through his blond hair and clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white.

"It will be fixed by noon, don't worry." Lena said.

"Noon? Kavanagh are you freaking kidding me, lad?" Said Kelly. Lena perceived the suppressed rage in his voice. "The client is waiting in my office."

"Come again?" Lena said and went as pale as Kelly's knuckles on his clenched fists.

"I told you the meeting was pushed forward." Kelly said through gritted teeth. The fact that he didn't reply with a sexual innuendo meant he was very serious about the whole thing. He reached for his phone in his pocket and scrolled through his screen searching for something. A contempt smile appeared in his face when he found what he was looking for.

"I sent you a text yesterday. You said you were ok with it. Look." He said, holding the phone screen inches away from her face.

Kelly wasn't lying. 'Roger that, boss 3' the message said. Lena stared in disbelief for a moment and verified with horror that the message did came from her number.

"Oh for fuck's sakes, don't tell me you were wasted. Again. You-"

"Watch your language, mate. Of course it's ready, I'm messing with you. Jeez, Kelly, you are so gullible. Bet you also bought that lil heart-y I added at the end, right?" Lena lied, trying to brush off her inner turmoil with her more than usual facade of confidence. There was a sly chance the application would work and she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing here prematurely defeated.

"Pick up your laptop and let's go, the guy is waiting for us." Said Kelly, and she obeyed.

Lena followed him to the conference room, and even though she wasn't going to give up just yet she wondered for a brief second if those were her last moments as a tax paying citizen with a false yet stable sense of financial security.

"They sent someone pretty important this time, so try to behave and be professional, and don't fuck it up." Said kelly, without turning around, making her feel more and more like a dead man walking.

"Someone important?" Lena asked.

"Yeah. A board member or something. He's surely dressed like one, black suited and all. Looks foreigner to me, that's for sure. Don't know why they would send someone like that for a demo of a cheap mobile app." Kelly replied. "But it's not our job to figure out why they do what they do, only to keep them happy."

An unsettling feeling creeped up Lena's spine as Kelly reached for the knob on the conference room door. A foreigner wearing an expensive suit is a broad description of a large majority of the business world population, and yet something felt oddly familiar and creepy at the same time, a combination Lena did not enjoy.

"Mr. Cipher, so sorry to keep you waiting." Lena heard Kelly said as he opened the door. She peeked inside anxiously. Her knees trembled when her eyes met the man sitting at the end of the table, making her hair stand on end. The same man that had intruded her dream a couple of days before. Bill. He looked at Kelly with a face of utter nonchalance, his chin resting on his right hand, clearly bored by the wait. He was just like she remembered him. His black suit embroidered with a golden pattern that, unlike Kelly's, was perfectly tailored. His blond hair with black streaks. His angular face line and tanned complexion. His left eye was also covered, but with a medical pad instead of an eye patch.

"I just hope this is worth my time." He said, stretching his arms.

"Of course, it will be! I would like to introduce you to the technical lead of this project, Mr. Cipher. This is Lena Kavanagh, one of our senior developers, she will be running the demo for you today." Kelly said taking the sit next to Bill's.

Bill's golden eye traveled from Kelly to the woman standing frozen at the edge of the door.

"Miss Kavanagh, so nice to finally meet you." Bill said, a sardonic smile on his face. "Come, please, take a sit. I want to hear ALL from you." He continued, pointing the other chair next to him.

For all that Lena tried, she couldn't, once again, make sense of what was going on. But there were two things she knew by then. First, and most importantly, whatever was going on, whatever crazy and unlikely abnormality was happening, it was not just in her head. She knew that man, the man that was sitting there, talking to Kelly. She already knew how he was going to look like the second she heard Kelly say his name.

And the second thing she knew was that whoever, or whatever, that man Bill was, he was certainly enjoying the situation. His amused expression gave it away.

Her brain fired up, a myriad of possibilities crossing her sleep deprived mind in a second. Her thought process was at full speed. Was he dangerous? Certainly, but he was not an imminent danger. At least to her physical health.

She stared back at Bill, defiantly, and smiled back.

"Indeed, Mr. Cipher." Lena said, and sat at the other end of the table, trying to keep as much distance as possible between them. "Let me start by telling you how honored we are to have someone of your caliber for this demo."

"How kind of you to notice." Bill said.

"Specially after a recent eye surgery I presume! he he" Kelly added nervously, making everyone in the room slightly uncomfortable for a brief second. Bill proceeded to ignore Kelly's small talk and kept his stare fixed on Lena.

"Makes me wonder why our client would send someone so overqualified for a simple demo" Lena asked, opening her laptop.

"Well, Miss Kavanagh, no one 'sent me'. No one can make me do anything, actually. I came here by my own choice." Bill said, mockingly.

"We have that in common." Lena replied as she typed away, getting the application running them to test it. "Unfortunately, that's where I think the similarities between us end."

"Well, yes, I have way more money than you. And power. So yes, that's where they end." Bill replied, leaning back on his chair.

The room felt silent. Kelly looked at Bill, then at Lena, then back at Bill, feeling oddly misplaced.

"Mr… Kelly was it? Said that you are a senior developer. For how long have you been working here, Lena, can I call you Lena?" Bill asked.

"Not really that long, Bill, can I call you Bill? Lena replied.

"Well you can, but you must be a psychic! I never gave you or Kelly my first name." Bill said, cheerfully.

"Came to me in a dream." Said Lena, arms crossed with a tired look on her face.

"Well, Kavanagh, let's start the demo. I'm sure Mr. Cipher has better things to do right now." Kelly said.

Lena swallowed. She connected her laptop to the room's projector and ran the application. She knew that if this was the guy behind all the weird things that had happened to her in the last few days, then the whole project, and the demo by association, was most likely going to crash and burn. She didn't mind, she could get another job. But Missy and the other guys on her team really depended on this. They had families, there were people that depended on them. And even though she couldn't give a rat's ass about the project, she knew that they had worked hard on it. Harder than her. And now not only her ass but everyone else's was on the line because this psycho wanted to play mind games with her.

Her computer's desktop was now on display in the projected image on the wall. Bill was again leaning against his chair with his hands behind his neck. Lena thought he looked almost excited for whatever was going to come next.

"What's going on Kavanagh?" Kelly asked, trying to stay composed as a black screen appeared where the program they had been working for the last couple months was supposed to be running.

"I don't know, it's supposed to be working, the code is running just fine to me." Lena said. "Take a look at the code if you don't believe me."

"That's your job, not mine! YOU are supposed to know about this things Kavanagh" -Kelly said, his tone rising as he spoke.

"I KNOW what my job is. I DID my job. I'm a developer. I write code. The code is fine. It's running JUST fine." Lena answered, both hands on the table.

"Well, it's clearly not. The screen is black. It's doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, so I thought at least a college dropout could. My bad." Kelly said, pointing to the black screen projected on the wall. Lena hid her face in her hands, too tired to fight back, as Kelly lashed out at her when an image appeared making them both end their quarreling.

A video started playing, a video of a dead rabbit lying on the ground and a time lapse of its decomposition.

"Is this a joke to you, Kavanagh?" Kelly mumbled, eyes gleaming with fury.

"Kelly I swear to God I have no idea what this is." Lena started, trying to stop the video as she spoke "I have no idea how this got her-" the deafening noise of a rising shepard's tone caught her mid sentence. It was loud enough to make Kelly cover his ears, and loud enough to drown out the curses he was yelling at Lena, who caught a glimpse of Bill's face as she reached for the projector's cable, trying to unplug it. He was delighted by the whole situation.

Kelly was still lashing out at Lena and most of her ancestors on her mother's side of the family when she managed to turned off her computer, making both the video and the noise stop.

"Mr. Cipher I'm terribly sorry for this, I can't believe this happened, I can assure you that none of the people on this project will be working for us at the end of the day. This is in no way a reflection of this company's business character" Kelly begged with watery eyes, running his hands through his hair.

" ..." Bill said.

"Uhm, it's actually Kelly, sir."

"You are in no position to correct me now, are you? As I was saying, I trust that this incident will by no means deteriorate our excellent business relationship in days to come. I will tell you what we are going to do. Keep your team, do not fire them. You'll need them to get this thing running by the end of the day. I can't come myself but I will send another team of executives to test the demo this afternoon, the actual demo… not this… joke. I will not mention this… 'incident' to any of them, so there will be no repercussions. If anyone knew what happened my hand would be forced into breaking our contract and, of course, suing you, with would certainly end in bankruptcy" Bill said.

"Force your hand? I thought you said no one could make you do anything." Lena added.

Bill glanced at her coldly and rose from his chair. He was not bulky like Kelly, but Lena couldn't help to notice how commanding his figure was when standing up, even though she didn't feel like admiring the man that was, by unknown means, tearing apart her work. "However," Bill continued "I can't overlook the fact that your team leader not only disrespected me but also jeopardized my company's money and time with this little sick game of hers. So in order for me to overlook this, I do demand that you fire this woman immediately."

"You don't need to do that. Because I fucking quit." Lena said as tough as she could and stormed out of the room unwilling to let either Bill or Kelly get the last word. She reached for the emergency staircase after a brief stop in her desktop to pick up her belongings. She couldn't answer Missy's questions, she felt her voice choking up as she tried to hold back her tears. She left before anyone could see her cry.

She got out of the building through the back door, and collapsed against the alley wall.

"What the fuck is going on" She said, as she finally let out her tears of anger. Lena pulled out a cigarette and lit it up with trembling hands. "What the fuck am I going to do?"

"For starters, you can stop cursing. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Blackstar?" She heard a voice next to her said. It was as loud as it was confident, and made her flinch like a scared cat to the opposite side and fall on her back. Bill Cipher was leaning against the wall, wearing a matching overcoat on top of his black suit, with a black eye patch again covering his left eye.

"YOU SICK PIECE OF SHIT WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?" Lena yelled, trying to get back on her feet.

"Wow, easy breezy. You already know what I want, haven't I told you already?" Said Bill with a smile, offering his hand to Lena.

"You are trying to destroy my life, that's what you are trying to do. Stay away from me you sick bastard." Lena snapped, hitting his hand in refusal.

"Destroy your life? Blackstar I'm going to REBUILD your life! Do you think I just go around offering THIS kind of deal to every mortal I run across? How often do you think I go to this length to make a human unemployed?" Bill said as blue fire engulfed his hands. Lena stared at the flames in in disbelief.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Lena asked again, a tint of fear in her voice.

"I see you are not as cocky in the physical realm as in the mindscape. Good. It will make negotiations easier." Bill said, the blue flames extinguished and he offered again his hand to Lena.

"Negotiations?" Lena asked, confused. She reluctantly took his hand and stood up, cautious of what might happen if he rejected him again.

"Of course, business negotiations! I'm talking about our contract, but let's not discuss that here. Let's go get you a pint. That's what you people do when you lose your jobs right?" Bill said with a smirk.

Lena examined Bill as she dusted her clothes off with her hands, she didn't know if was the lack of sleep or the sudden need for alcohol but she found herself nodding at Bill's proposal and followed him out of the alley.


	5. so, Satan is your drinking pal?

Lena followed Bill to a pub, always keeping a few feet behind. She was glad when he finally settled for a very loud one, with the sound of a dozen conversations competing against each other on top of rock music playing on the background. Smoke twisted artistically, forming curls in the air, barely lit by the soft green lights.

"I think you will like this one." Bill said, swiftly passing through the crowd as he reached for a seat at the bar. "You haven't been here before."

"You guessed right." Lena said, forcing her way through a group of people in a much clumsier way than Bill.

"Oh, I wasn't guessing, Blackstar." Bill said, turning his head to give her a quick smile. He took off his coat and took a seat on a green leather stool, and invited Lena to do the same. Lena thought by their looks no one would ever think they were together. She noticed how his polished image and expensive looking suit were a sharp contrast to her disheveled hair and worn out jeans, and felt slightly embarrassed of herself for a brief second. That was right before she remembered her companion was in fact a demon that had just gotten her fired from work. She removed her washed out military green coat and took the seat on his right.

"So, here we are, are you going to tell me what's going on now?" Lena began, only to be shushed by Bill. He took a look at his golden watch and then signaled the bartender with his hand.

"Give me a scotch. No ice. Same for the lady" He said with his typical crooked smile on. The bartender nodded and turned to the glass bottles behind his back. He returned with two glasses of whiskey and placed them in front of the blond. Bill took a sip of his glass and moved the other in Lena's direction "I don't discuss business without drinking."

"Fine. It's just that..." She began, almost timidly. Bill eyed her with curiosity and saw her uncomfortable body language reflecting her struggle for words.

"But what?!" Bill demanded, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"...I thought you said we were going to get a pint. Not whiskey." Lena shrugged, disappointedly.

A flash of genuine surprise crossed his face. "Really, woman?!" He spatted.

"It's just that you said you were going to get me a pint. Your words, not mine! I got myself mentally set for a beer. But you got me whiskey." Lena said, pouring out her inner reasoning and perplexing Bill in the process.

"You like whiskey." Bill retorted, rolling his eyes.

"I do!" Lena said. "But I was already set for a beer! Wait a sec, how do you know I like whiskey?"

"Oh, I know lots of things." Bill said as he regained his cool, his menacing grin back on, making Lena flinch slightly to the right.

There was something about the expression on his face every time he had the upper hand of the conversation that made her uncomfortable. Lena took a large sip of whiskey, hoping the alcohol would either give her courage or dumb well enough her instinct of self preservation to keep up with him.

"Like what?" Said Lena with a defiant tone, trying to sound confident. She immediately regretted her decision as Bill turned around, glanced at his watch again, and tilted his body slightly in her direction.

"What do I know? Oh let's see… for example, you weren't born in Ireland, you moved to Dublin when you were a kid. Lena is not your real name. You lost your virginity at 21, kind of a late bloomer, aren't we?"

Bill paused and took another sip, he relished in Lena's reaction, her cheeks turning ever redder. He continued before the brunette ever had the chance to talk back.

"Your first guitar was a cheap strat that you bought when you were fourteen. Your mom sold it two years later and got a brand new stereo for her car with the money. She told you someone broke into the house and took it. Also, you have a really weird taste in porn by general human standards. Anything else, Blackstar?"

Lena opened her mouth but no words came out. She turned her head, finally breaking eye contact with Bill, and shoved the rest of the scotch down her throat.

Bill waited in vain for a comeback, finishing his glass as well. He was surprised she wasn't cursing at him like before, or trying to smack him across the face. She remained still with a blank stare on her face for a moment and then refocused her attention on Bill.

"What do you want with me?" Lena asked, coming out of her trance.

"I've already told you. I want to make a deal with you. Well, actually, more like… a contract." Bill replied, signaling the bartender for another round for both of them.

"Yes, I remember that. I remember your little intrusion in my dreams perfectly. What I'm asking is why you want to make a deal with ME? Why me? Were you, don't know, eeny, meeny, miny, moe-ing the whole human race and I was the lucky winner? How do you decide who's life you are going to fuck up"

"You think I'm the kind of person that leaves things to chance?" Bill asked rhetorically.

"You are technically not a person."

"Well, no, I'm not. And no, I didn't select you randomly. There's only a handful of people in this dimension that I can offer this contract to. Let me explain. See how some places are just weirdness magnets? Like the Bermuda triangle. Well, it's not just places, I guess you can imagine by now that some people ARE living weirdness magnets. And guess what else! You happen to be one of them. Don't get too cocky though, there are many like you out there. In any case, people like you attract chaos. When chaos gathers around somewhere, or somebody, the laws of the physical plane, or of any plane, start to bend. That makes the transition between dimensions easier, and it also facilitates the use of what you call 'magic'." Bill explained, placing emphasis on the word as he conjured blue flames on his hands, startling Lena. "Also, in order to use magic you also need to have a strong astral body, one that is able to channel whatever energy you are conjuring into the world. You also happen to have one." Bill shook his hands extinguishing the flames.

"Wow… ehm… Thank you?"

"Again, don't get too cocky. You are not the only one with these… 'traits', Blackstar"

"Then why don't you go and pester someone else then?" Lena inquired, angered by Bill's dismissal of any uniqueness in her.

"Because the other guy tried to kill me a million times and succeeded once." Bill spatted out loud, a blue flame flickered for a moment on his right hand as he slammed it down on the bar's table. He regained his composure, ran a hand through his back and golden hair and leveled his eyes on the girl. "It's gotta be you."

"Why would I help you? You have been terrorizing. You scared the living daylights out of me with your 'paranormal activity' shit. You. got. me. fired."

"I have a penchant for drama. My bad." Bill shrugged mockingly.

"A penchant for drama? You. are. a. demon. Why would I ever sign a contract with you?!" Lena rebuked.

"Well, for the time being, how about survival?" Bill asked, checking his watch yet again. He stood up and finish his drink in one shot. "It's such a waste that I can't get this body drunk. I bet it must be quite funny for you to do that."

"What?" Lena questioned. "What do you mean by survival?"

"Yes. Survival. An old acquaintance of mine has gotten word of my… fallen from grace status. So I think he's not going to let pass the opportunity to astrally chop me into pieces." Bill explained as he put on his coat, his calm demeanor unnervingly not matching the severity of his words. "And since I've been hanging out with you for the last hours your innate chaos has made me even more trackable for him, so before he hunts us down we should get ourselves ready."

"What? Wait… 'we'?!" Lena inquired.

"Of course! Do you think he's not going to come after you as well? Blackstar, you stench of me, energetically speaking, I've been leaving my mark on you this whole week! It's the astral equivalent of peeing on you."

"You son of a-" Lena began, but Bill was already walking past the crowd aiming for the exit. She picked her coat and hurried out as well, catching up with Bill.

"Good to see you are joining the party, Blackstar." He said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "It's going to be blast."

"Literally, I hope."


	6. It's a deal!

Lena chased after Bill as he left the pub and headed south.

"What do you mean by survival?" She demanded, stumbling on her way out.

"That you are still breathing by the end of the day, perhaps?" Bill mocked. "I told you, there's an old acquaintance of mine that's coming after me."

"Mind filling the blanks on why a demon is trying to kill you?" Lena asked.

"Remember I told you back in our dream date how I got the worst out of a deal? Well, when a demon goes broke it's usually in the metaphysical way." Bill explained "I lost a big chunk of my power… well, rather I got it confiscated and the lowlife scums that used to hang out with me want whatever's left."

Lena took notice of a glimpse of regret that crossed his face while he explained his dim situation, a small crack in his mask of exuberating confidence.

"So… what's the plan? Run away?" She inquired, glancing at him. She was hard pushed to keep pace with his rapid but slender steps.

"Ugh… Isn't it obvious? We are going to get that slimy backstabber before he gets us."

"We? What do you mean by 'we'?" Lena questioned.

"Of course 'we'." Bill replied dismissively "There's very little I can do on this plane in my current state. I'd say the tricks I pulled on you and your boss must about the limit of what I can do right now. My powers are locked in the mindscape. I need you to channel them. So we are going to make a deal."

"I ain't striking no deal with you! As far as I know, and as far as I'm concerned, you are just some bat shit crazy stalker!" Lena spatted.

"Then why did you come with me?" Bill asked.

"I don't know! Maybe because I'm sleep deprived! Maybe because I wanted to know where this is going! Maybe because I'm as bat shit crazy as you for buying that you are a demon! This is crazy talk!" Lena lied. She wouldn't admit she wanted to believe Bill, believe that demons existed and that there was more to the world than what she was told since she was a child. She needed it to be true. She wouldn't admit that, for once, she felt excited, and genuinely intrigued. But fear pushed that thought to the back of her head.

"Well, Blackstar, this IS happening and I AM a demon." Bill replied, turning around and grabbing her by the arm, bringing her closer to him, a note of anger in his otherworldly echoey voice. "So you better get a hold of yourself because if there's any doubt left in your mind I guarantee it's going to dissipate real soon when this guy comes for us."

Bill released her arm and steadied his pace. Lena fell silent and followed the blond man. She had been reasonably certain he was heading to Temple Bar, since they were walking south, but he abruptly changed directions as soon as they reached the river and turned left on Bachelors Walk. The last lights of the setting sun shone on the water and on Bill's back, there was a faint shimmer of gold to him, Lena noticed, like a ghost light that played around the edges.

"What's on your mind?" Bill asked, taking notice of the brunette's gaze on him.

"I was wondering who's this guy we are after" She fired quickly. She didn't feel that 'I didn't know demons could look so regal' was the most appropriate choice of words at the moment.

"His name is Kyptos. Humans used to call him Malphas. He made his devotees call him a Great President of Hell, but he's just a big bluff. He has literally zero street cred in the mindscape. His special ability is that he destroys toughts. Do you know how lame is that?" Bill explained.

"That's sounds pretty terrible to me." Lena added, reaching for a cigarette in her pocket.

"You think that's pretty terrible? He's the lowest of the low. And he can only use that power on the weak of mind. A frustrated wannabe that doesn't hold a candle to the Lord of Nightmares. But he does come with the regular stock of powers you would think a demon has, so we need to take care of him." Bill said, a small blue flame engulfed his index finger and he drew it closer to Lena for her to reluctantly light the cigarette that was already on her lips.

"Uhmm… thanks." She said awkwardly. "So, where are we going? Where's he? Do we have to invoke him or something?"

"Blackstar I would be damned, again, before my human proxy summons such a lowlife. And no, we don't need to invoke him. He has taken residence in the human plane for a while and manages an international smuggling ring now. Drugs, guns, people, you name it, and hides everything under a construction company facade. Always the architect. Guess he didn't have much problem sustaining a physical form in this dimension after Weirdmaggedon, like all the other little shits." Bill continued.

"Weirdmaggedon?" Lena asked.

"I'll tell you about that later. Thing is, I got word he's coincidentally accompanying a shipment that is to arrive in Dublin's port tonight. This trip was not in his schedule last week, so what do you think could make a ringleader like him suddenly change plans and head here?" Bill asked.

"I'm guessing the answer is he knows you are here." Lena replied.

"Right on point, Blackstar. He has always been the most anxious of the bunch. He can't wait to get his hands on me and he's acting reckless. So, we're going to catch him unprepared." Bill grinned.

They had been walking east for half an hour when Lena caught a glimpse of the river flowing into the sea. The day had died and a cold breeze was blowing from the ocean, making her shiver. Bill looked as composed as always, and Lena wondered if demons felt things like cold. Did they eat? They could certainly drink, but could they get drunk? Did they sleep? Did they do other things human bodies do that she didn't want her mind to linger too much on? She wasn't really sure Bill couldn't read her thoughts.

Bill's gaze searched the area, an absent look on his face.

"He's close." He said. A different kind of shiver crawled up Lena's spine. There was no turning back now. "Time to seal the deal, Blackstar."

Bill extended his right hand, now engulfed in blue flames, and held it in front of Lena, who was motionlessly staring into Bill's bright golden eye.

"Yeah. Not so fast." Lena replied, putting both her hands in the pockets of her coat.

"What's the matter?" He asked, angrily. "You still don't believe me?" He knew it was not going to be an easy task. The girl was stubborn, he knew that from the go. A stubbornness that made her hard to manipulate. He could scare her, threaten her, and get her fired from her job. But he couldn't make her shut her mouth and easily agree with him. It made him uneasy how she defied him on a regular basis.

"Let's say, for a moment, that I believe you. And that I believe that the only way we have out of this situation you put me in is to make a deal with you, which I hardly doubt but I have no way to verify at the moment. What are the 'terms and conditions'? Explain them again."

Bill sighed in frustration. "Haven't you watch any movies about this? You make a deal with me and you get full unrestricted access to all of my powers, you'll be able to channel them from the astral plane as much as you want... well, as much as you 'can'. You won't be Harry Potter from day one."

"So, no shooting fireworks from a magic wan, uh?" Lena asked.

"Curb your enthusiasm." Bill replied.

"And what's in it for you? Apart from being anchored in this dimension." Lena asked.

"Well, Blackstar." Bill began, a smile stealing across his face. "My terms and conditions are quite simple. In exchange for all my power AND wisdom, and the superb training you will receive in the occult arts, YOU get to help ME... by taking out my enemies."

Lena stared at the demon in disbelief. She was certainly expecting his end of the deal to be more dramatic, more flamboyant, than just becoming his henchwoman.

"So, that's it? You want me to do your dirty job? You don't want my soul in exchange after I die or anything like that." She inquired.

"Does that disappoint you?" Bill asked with a smirk.

"And what happens if I don't go along with this?" Lena finally asked. She tried to keep her voice on a light tone, but she couldn't hide the somber look that took over her eyes from Bill.

"You'll be a sitting duck for the demons that will come after you. Either that or you will continue with your boring life in a different dead end job and regret forever how you let this opportunity to become extraordinary pass you by."

The last sentence stroke a chord deep within Lena that was far more scary than the prospect of being killed by an unholy monster from another dimension. Her mind span it's usual carousel of reasons she shouldn't make a deal with Bill. She barely knew him, but she could tell he was not the definition of trustworthy. And even if all what Bill told her was true, even if there were demons and magic out there, could he guarantee she would be safe? Safe. She had spent the last decade after high school playing it safe, and she had come to know that 'safe' equals 'boring' more often than not. She had accomplished nothing; therefore she had nothing to lose.

A light breeze was blowing from the sea, and Lena took a big breath, trying to take it all in. The air in her chest seemed to stutter in her lungs before she let it go, feeling the tension drain from her body.

"So, what is it going to be? Do we have a deal? I won't ask you again." Bill asked, extending his right hand, coated in blue flames once again.

Lena stared back at Bill, with a shy smile crossing her lips and defiance in her eyes. She took his hand and shook it with a firm grip.

"It's a deal."

The world around her turned to black and white, with the exception of blue flame that was now crawling up her hand. She felt the burn, but not the pain. The heat moved through her veins up her arm, and when it reached her shoulder it expanded like wildfire through her body. Lena dropped to her knees, clenching her chest, feeling her heart was about to explode. She didn't know she could take so much heat without dying. Was she dying? Her mind went numb with flashes of golden light, unable to bring a thought to completion.

An evil laughing echoed in the back of her head. It was sharp and clear as ice. It was probably Bill's.

The golden light turned into a sequence of images. The pyramids of Giza. An woman with asian features sitting on an armchair smoking a pipe. An orb of glass with a universe inside. A rift in the sky. A golden eye.

An Axolotl.

"If he wants to shrink the blame, he'll have to invoke my name." It sang.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS." Someone screamed, and the visions stopped.

And then everything turned to black. A dark tranquility. She sank into the darkness.

"Blackstar." Someone called. "Blackstar!"

A pair of hands broke her fall.

"Open your eyes, kid."

And she did to see the face of Bill smiling down on her. A gush of blood filled her face at the realization Bill was holding her in his arms. She rolled over to free herself.

"That was a little too intense, wasn't it?" Mocked Bill.

"I don't know what is was" Said Lena as she examined her hands, there were no burn marks on her skin. "But you can call it intense."

A tingling sensation lingered on her right forearm.

"Bill what the fuck is this." She asked as she lifted her sleeve.

Her fingers traced the strange markings. A triangle with an eye, encircled by strange symbols she had never seen before covered the inside of her forearm.

"Oh, that? That's my sigil of course!" Bill explained.

"YOU BRANDED ME?! THIS was not part of the DEAL!" Lena demanded.

"Well, it's the seal of the contract. Besides, it's a really cool design, dontcha think? I got one just like that on my back… although with a few other symbols that when carved on a human could take their souls to the plane of nonexistence!" Bill chuckled to Lena's dismay. "Sorry Blackstar, if you want to make an omelet you have to break a few skulls!"

"I swear to god…"

"Hey! Watch your language, missy. Now let's get going. There's a certain someone around here who's ass I need you to obliterate. Guess he already figured out we are close." Bill declared, grabbing Lena by the arm.

"Now? And how am I supposed to do that?! Shouldn't you… I don't now, give me some time to train or something?!" Lena panicked. She certainly didn't feel as overwhelmingly powerful as she expected.

"You are a natural kid, you will learn on the go!" Bill said, hiding his own doubt behind his ever present crooked grin. He had felt the Axolotl presence for an instant when closing the deal and for a second he feared he was screwed. But his deal, his contract with Lena was now in place and he knew the Axolotl couldn't void it. For the time being he was safe. The cosmic salamander was too lazy to move a finger and bend the laws of time and space to get to Bill, besides he wasn't technically breaking any rules. It hadn't forbidden Bill from making deals with humans when it brought him back to this miserable dimension in this miserable form. Bill could get by through the loopholes in their agreement until he was strong enough to face the it. And when that happened, there would be no more Axolotl.


	7. Black Magic 101

"Oh, boy" Lena exclaimed. A muscle twitched involuntarily at the corner of her right eye. She reached up her hand to the back of her neck and brushed some of the sweat away. Her insides grew warm in an unpleasant way and her stomach writhed struggling with the last point she had sent down back in the pub.

"He's close." Bill said. He had them sneak into a warehouse he believed was Kryptos'. It smell of iron and salt, and it was poorly lit, its large windows covered by stacks of boxes that kept out the moonlight. "Be prepared, Blackstar. Just let me do the talking."

Lena didn't complain. In fact she wouldn't have complained if Bill volunteered to also do the fighting. She was already struggling against a loud voice in the back of her head that reminded her that there surely was a very good reason why humans are not encourage to interact with demons and that it might have something to do with the basics of survival. That voice, however, had to be muzzled as there was no way out for her other than going along with Bill's plan.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Bill mocked, trying to lighten the mood. Humans were so tiny. They usually froze with fear at the prospect of death. So silly. Didn't they know they had died a myriad of deaths before? Didn't they know that regardless of how much they struggled they were still, eventually going to die? Humans were so fleeting. So finite. So if you are going to kick the bucket anyway why not just enjoy what little time you have been given and do whatever pleases you instead of spending your time and resources in something as temporary as staying alive? Why having things like rules and laws and restrictions? But humans' fear of death had served his purpose well more often than not. People were so easy to manipulate when faced with mortality. Pitiful.

"I'm… okay." She lied as she pushed down a gush of acid that ran up her throat. "Are you sure he's close? This place seems empty and I can barely see a thing."

"Yes, he is. Can't you feel it?" Bill asked as he walked by a pile of empty plastic boxes with black serial numbers on them. Was Kryptos trading guns now? Classy. But why were they empty? Were they too late? Too early? Why were there no guards? Not that he actually needed them, but Bill supposed he would want them close by to fit his mob leader facade.

"Feel it?" Lena asked.

"Yes. You should be able to do things like that now." Bill explained. "Our deal has opened a door to a different world for your senses. The world behind the world. You can now feel it, hear it and see it as if you were one of us."

"Uhm… I haven't… you know… felt anything like that." She said timidly before stumbling onto a pile of bubble wrap and wood chunks. "Fuck! I'm so getting my tetanus shot after this."

Bill reached for Lena's arm and helped her up."Ugh… You people can't handle not even a tiny bit of darkness. Unbelievable." Lena blushed when Bill grabbed her hand to guide her through the rubble.

"I guess I have no other choice but to believe you when you say he's close... so… what do I do when we get to him?" Lena asked.

"Magic, of course. We fight fire with fire.. And chaos, destruction and madness, that is." He kept her hand in his, and urged her on. "You gotta move faster, Blackstar. So, let's get down to it, shall we? Tell me everything you think you know about magic so we can write that off and teach you the real stuff."

Lena felt embarrassed Bill assumed whatever knowledge she held on the topic was mistaken. She had dwelt in the occult and paranormal through her angry goth phase in high school, a phase she was not overtly proud of, but truth was all her "knowledge" came from sources as unreliable as a livejournal blog.

"I know nothing. Enlighten me."

"Even better. First lesson, and keep this well in mind, humans have no magic abilities per se. Zero, none, nada. But you know that humans can use magic. So, how do you think they can do that?" Bill asked.

Lena pondered on his question for a second. "Well… If humans have no magic but they use magic, it means they must be using someone else's, right?"

"Good girl." He congratulated with a grin. "To use magic, you need to 'ask' an entity that has magic in the first place to lend you some of its might. In this case you'll be calling upon me. And the way you 'ask' for this power is called a spell, as you might have already figured out."

"So far so good."

"But here's the fun part." Bill smiled "The incantation for a spell is a sequence of words or sentences that usually contain the name and attributes of the force the caster calls upon and the basic declaration of the sorcerer's intent. Those are call the words of chaos, because they bend the natural laws around the caster. These words are not set into stone. You have to figure them out by yourself. This means that two sorcerers invoking the same creature for the same intended effect could in fact come up with two very different incantations. And likewise, the same words of chaos uttered by different sorcerers could produce a radically different result."

Lena scratched the back of her head. "That sounds very aleatory."

Bill chuckled. "I know, isn't chaos a wonderful thing? And the effects can be even more random when you call upon yours truly, the Lord of Nightmares."

"Do you truly believe someone like you can still cling to that title?" A deep, icy voice growled.

Bill stopped cold causing Lena to bump against his back. A purple flame lit in the center of the room, it danced as it took the form of a tall, gray man. He had long hair and thin lips, and a pair of eyes, red and terrible, behind framed glasses. His face was filled with contempt.

"So, you finally decided to come out and play?" Bill replied, a tint of hatred in his tone. "Thanks for making things easier for me. Nice meat suit, is it yours or are you borrowing from a friend?"

"I came here because I have other more important business to attend and I want to be done with this as soon as possible. Do you like the place? I bought this warehouse just so that no one would bother us. I just had to circulate a rumor here and there and you came, like a moth to a flame" Kryptos explained. A dense purple glow emanated from him, making Lena's hair stand on end. She hid behind Bill's frame to shield from the light, grateful Kryptos wasn't paying any attention to her presence yet. "Although I did expect you to arrive twenty-three minutes earlier."

"Don't go all high and mighty with me" Blue flames engulfed Bill, his only eye taking glowing a shade of red to match Krypto's. "You are here because you are a vulture with no honor."

Kryptos nose wrinkled in disgust "Honor?! You were defeated by an OLD FART at the highest of your power and you lost what little dignity you had left when you called on the Axolotl to bring you back. You don't get to lecture anyone on honor. You are pathetic and the whole cosmos knows it. You are nothing Bill Cipher, you are a joke."

The atmosphere grew dense as the two demons argued, and it made Lena sick. She felt there was another battle, and unseen battle, taking place between the two of them, in a different plane.

What little color Lena still had drained from her face, her stomach twirling strongly. Her vision became blurry with shades of purple and blue plaguing her mind's eye. She gasped for air as a pulse of malice filled her insides, making her head numb, unsure who was the demon it was coming from. She felt she was about to faint, about to fall. She felt the pull of darkness over her.

"Blackstar!" Bill called, bringing her back. "Get yourself together, this is it. I'm done talking to this little shit."

"Blackstar?" Kryptos questioned with a baffled expression. His eyes went from Bill to a pair of weary brown eyes hiding behind him. He searched Lena curiously and she cursed the moment Bill decided against letting her go unnoticed. "Her? I heard you would be in the company of a human, but this is hilarious."

"None of your business." Bill replied coldly.

Kryptos gaze remained fixed on Lena. "Girl, I take you have made a deal with him already. Have you not?" Lena's heart raced in her chest, and instinctively touched her forearm. Kryptos eyes narrowed, his question answered. "I see. Making a deal with the Blackstar. I can't believe you are actually going down that road. Again. You are truly pathetic Bill."

"Again?" Lena asked, perplexed by Kryptos choice of words. "Bill, what does he mean by 'again'?"

"Nothing. Let's do what we came here to do." Bill growled.

"Oh! He hasn't tell you has he?" Kryptos lips curved into a crooked smile. "I would guess not. I won't spoil the surprise for you but, let me ask you something girl, for how long has Bill been calling you Blackstar?"

"Shut up! Lena, let's do it." Bill cried angrily.

She knew he meant serious business if he was calling her by her name, but Kryptos already caught her attention. "Since I met him" Bill turned around and looked at her as if she had betrayed him by answering Kryptos question, to which she replied with a shrug.

"Oh, and tell me, have you ever questioned this little nickname he has for you? Or has it come to you naturally?" Once again, Lena didn't have to answer the question. He could tell the answer by looking at the muscles on her face stiff beneath her skin. "I see… I think that's very strange, wouldn't you agree?"

She would.

"Enough talk" a ray of golden light left Bill's hand and blasted against the gray demon. Kryptos dismissed it with a swift wave of his right hand.

"You fool! you think you can harm me with your silly tricks? You no longer wield any power that could threaten me, Cipher!" He yelled. "I imagined you wouldn't go quietly into the dark, so let's dance! I'll tear you both apart." The dense light that surrounded him condensed even more around the edges and grew in size until it was turned to flesh, taking the form of a terrible beast, with feathered wings sprouting from its back. Its head was that of an eagle, but it was deformed, with chunks of bone protruding through the skin.

"You are right, I don't wield that power anymore" Bill replied. "But she does."

Lena's eyes widened as Bill's body turned into golden light. For a second she feared he was going to vanish, leaving her behind as cannon fodder for Kryptos, but the light twirled around her.

"This is it, do it now! Call upon my power!" A voice called. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was speaking directly to her mind.

Lena's survival instinct kicked in and the heavy aura that surrounded her dissipated as the air was filled with electricity. Something was coming. She ran, hiding behind the myriad of boxes on the warehouse that made for a small labyrinth in the dark. Kryptos released a blast of energy that nearly missed her, singing the tips of her hair.

"Bill!" She yelled. "What do I do?!"

"You cast a spell and attack him. You know how to do it! Next time he won't miss."

"You are RIGHT here, can't you just lend me your powers?!" Lena cried.

"It doesn't work like that, you need to mean it! You need to set your intentions straight. You need to address my power properly." The voice echoed in her head.

Lena took a deep breath and concentrated, as much as anyone could with a murderous bird demon breathing down their neck. Against her better judgement, she decided to do as Bill commanded.

With her attention focused on the tip of her fingers, her mind went blank. She felt a pulse, a shy tug from a stream of power, running deep within her, making its presence known as it waited for her command.

She started chanting, her voice barely a whisper.

"King of Nightmares…"

She felt the shy tug strengthen, as if she had piqued the interest of the stream within her.

Lena chuckled. Flattery works.

"...Who shines like gold, upon a sea of chaos…"

The mark on her right forearm flared up with a bright light that quickly ran through her skin and covered her whole body. Her fingers burned with energy.

The tug on her mind turned into an intoxicating pull into a realm of strength and madness. Power was running through her veins. Lena smirked in satisfaction. If she wanted she could let herself sink. Sink in that power, in the golden current of madness, and be devoured by it. She wanted it. And all she had to do was let herself go.

Keep a cool head, Blackstar. Don't let it suck you in.

A voice called within, snapping her out of her trance. She couldn't let herself be dragged into that vortex.

Kryptos took flight and gained sight of Lena. The witch was casting a spell. He considered for a second the possibility of letting her finish her incantation, after all odds were in favour she wouldn't be able to complete it. He could just sit and wait until the very power she was trying to summon against him would turn on her and make her burn, just like it had consumed so many before her. It would certainly be fun to watch the shame on Bill's face as all his plans came down to nothing on a moment's notice. But he wouldn't take any chances. The wench could lose control of the spell any second now and after it consumed her Bill's magic could spread like wildfire. He wanted to get his job done as clean as possible. This was his chance to strike.

Kryptos produced a ray of purple energy on his hand, and hurled it Lena. As it sliced through thin air it scattered into several lances of light

Lena saw the attack coming directly towards her. A voice called from within, compelling her to stand her ground.

"Just stay focused and keep chanting. There's no way you will evade all those shots. You'll have to take a direct hit. Just trust me and keep chanting." Easier said than done, thought Lena, but she didn't have much of a choice other than to trust Bill. "I'll keep them off"

She feared sudden death as she felt the impact of the lances against her body, one after the other, creating a big explosion as they made contact. They stinged her muscles with burning pain, but to her relief they didn't pierce through her limbs.

As instructed, Lena continued chanting.

"...I hereby call thee! I hereby pledge myself to thee!..."

She felt the power condense between her hands. A circle of light manifested in front of them, and she rosed her hands to aim at Kryptos that was flying high near the roof.

Kryptos let out a screech of horror. It was a direct hit. By then her dismembered limbs should had been scattered all through the warehouse. How was she still alive? There was some sort of shield around her, protecting her as she casts her spell, but what was it? It had to be Bill, but how was he doing it?

The realization hit him quickly. The shield WAS Bill.

Kryptos grew tense and fearful, for the first time that night. And just as Bill had hopred, Kryptos became anxious.

He dived through the air straight at Lena, his arms morphed into terrible claws, aiming for her throat. An aura of golden light slowed him down.

"Hurry, Blackstar. I can't hold him on any longer."

Lena gasped at the sight of the beast coming after her, but she continued to chant.

"...and by our powers combined…" Lena pressed on. The magic circle morphed into a similar designed to the one on her forearm, with the one eyed triangle in the middle. The incantation was nearly finished. She envisioned the completed spell in her mind's eye. The shape it would take on the physical world.

He had tried to rip her apart, she would return the favor.

"...grant destruction upon the fools who dare to stand against us!" She declared, looking Kryptos straight into the eyes. The smirk on her face ignited the rage of the demon. He wouldn't have a human mock him. Kryptos condensed all the power he had left and released it in a burst of energy, rendering Bill's shield useless and rushed against Lena, but it was already too late.

"AUDCAL VONPHO" She heard herself utter, her tongue was moving on its own, and her mouth spoke those foreign words she didn't know, commanding her spell to take effect.

Her magic circled produced a myriad spears of golden light that materialized and impaled Kryptos on spot, with his claws a few inches away from Lena's skin. The demon screamed in pain as the lances of light dismembered him from the physical world to the astral plane. Just as they were tearing off his limbs, he felt his own soul being torn apart, each fragment scattered through dimensions, never to return. He agonized, but didn't have the parts necessary to scream anymore.

He saw Bill's face shining down on him, smiling, rejoicing; and then, Kryptos was no more.

Lena watched with blurry eyes as the spell she conjured ended Kryptos existence, content yet horrified. Then with one step backwards she crumpled like a puppet suddenly released of their strings. A pair of hands caught her, for the second time that day.

"That was superb." Bill whispered next to her ear, his warm breath reaching down to her neck. His relaxed tone reassured her she was safe. "Now give it a rest."

And with no strength left in her to object, she obeyed.


	8. London Calling

\- I'm going to take some time before getting the next chapter done. It's going to be a long one, but it will be a huge turning point in Bill and Lena's relationship and it will hopefully introduce adult!Gideon into the story, so I want to get it done right.

* * *

"Wake up." A voice called, disturbing her sleep. "It's almost noon, wake up!"

Slowly and reluctantly she uncovered her face. Streaks of sunlight penetrated the window, blinding her sight. As she rose from slumber she was made aware of the coolness of the air and its musky fragrance. Musk and incense. Bill Cipher smelled like that.

She soaked in the warmth of her covers as she pondered the possibility of oversleeping just a few minutes more, right before her foot was tugged by a yet unseen force. "Wake. Up. Don't make me go grab the bucket."

Bill had taken the nasty habit of rising her from unconsciousness by means of cold water. A trope Lena found extremely unoriginal and impractical by all means, as it usually meant her mattress would be soaking wet the next night.

Lena hissed as she dragged her feet out of bed. "Leave me alone."

"Always the charmer. No can do, Blackstar. We have work to do." Bill called, gleefully. He had changed into a pair grey jeans and a back shirt with a golden triangle in the middle. He was wearing a golden earring on his upper lobe, and matching golden rings on his right hand. Always black and gold and triangles. Guy knew how to do brand placement, Lena thought.

"Fuck off."

Bill watched her crawl into the small kitchen lured by the need for caffeine. He knew already that whatever came out of her mouth after waking up, be it language or breath, would be as foul and acid as ammonia mixed with dead corpses.

Lena's initial gratitude towards Bill when she realized he had brought her home safely and had stayed by her side while she slept for two days straight after the battle with Kryptos had quickly turned into anger and frustration when she found out Bill couldn't technically leave her side, making cohabitation mandatory. He would only leave to scout the nightmare realm for information, and possible job opportunities, and only for a few minutes everyday, as them being apart would drain both Lena's and Bill's energy dramatically.

Regardless of Lena's initial displeasingness towards her demonic room mate, she had grown accustomed to his quirks during the last few weeks. However she missed solitude intensely and found great comfort in taking very long and frequent showers. She had strictly banned Bill from ever following her to the bathroom, one of the few rules Bill actually observed. She had guessed he did it not out of fear of retribution, as she found there were few things she could do to harm him, but he was clever enough to know there were certain boundaries that were better not to cross if he wanted his human on a stress level suitable enough do her work.

In fact, he found her to be much more pleasant to be with when she was not permanently pissed off at him. She would gladly engage in conversation whenever Bill brought something up, regardless of how bizarre the topic was, a trait Bill enjoyedliked. They could be discussing chinese porn then switch to the concept of tattooing someone with scents instead of ink and end up playing "marry, fuck, kill" but with inanimate objects or the international classification of disease.

She came out of the kitchen carrying two mugs, and offered Bill the one on her left hand. Bill was puzzled at why she would always do that. She always prepared two of whatever she was having, and handed the extra serving out to Bill. He was a demon, a being of pure energy that had no need for substance, even when bound to a physical body. He reached out and took it, like he always did, and drank the coffee without protest. He did like the taste of it.

"Good to see you decided to join the living, Blackstar" He mocked.

'Blackstar'. There it was again. Bill's little nickname for her. Since Kryptos had brought up Lena's inherent acceptance of it, she had started questioning its use. She had asked him numerous times why he called him that, but he always evaded her questions. He would say 'because you are a Blackstar' as if it was the most obvious reason in the world and change the subject. Any intent on her part to press for further clarification, on that or on any other topic he didn't feel like discussing, like Weirdmaggedon or the Axolotl, would cause him to get moody and flee to the nightmare realm long enough to make Lena extremely tired upon his return to pester him for answers.

"So, what do you have for me today." she asked, sitting on her old mattress, her legs spread. She reached for the Fender Stratocaster, her most prized possession, resting on its stand at the end of her bed and placed it on her lap.

"I got you something really awesome. You are in for a treat." Sang Bill.

"Oh really?" Joked Lena. "So, what is it?"

"How do you feel about making an exorcism?" Bill asked cheerfully. Lena eyed him in response. By the looks of it, his concept of a treat couldn't had been further apart from hers. He grabbed a chair and took a sit in front of her, sunlight igniting the golden colors in his hair. A grin crossed his face, making it impossible for Lena not to feel uneasy about the job offer. Whenever he was happy about something, chaos ensued.

"An exorcism? On what? A house infestation or a full blown human possession? And why are you so happy about it? " She asked. She certainly hadn't wasted any time the last few weeks when it came to her esoteric education, blasting Bill with questions, trying to get him to teach her as much as she could learn on the occult, and even though he was usually willing to play the teacher, her thirst for knowledge could be slightly overbearing. Lena told him that she just wanted to be prepared for the next demon that would come after them, she couldn't get to tell him she was pretty happy with the academic entails of her new career path. She still had to do some freelance work as a developer to pay the rent, a task she now abhorred, but Bill had guaranteed she could make a living out of this once she had made a name for herself down in the occult societies.

"I got word it's a person, and you could make some money out of it. Seems the parents are desperate." Bill explained.

"The parents?! Hold on a sec, what age gap are talking about here?"

Bill raised a finger to his chin. "Mmmh… I don't know exactly, but I'm guessing preschooler."

"Ah, bloody hell no. No, no, no, no, no. I want nothing to do with kids." Lena exclaimed. "I can't stand kids. I can't stand people who have kids. Let alone pull demons out of their offspring."

Bill let out a sigh of frustration. "Blackstar, I didn't lie when I said you were in for a treat. An exorcism is one of the easiest jobs you will come across in your line of work. And it's easy money. No local priest is going to do the job unless they get authorization from their Church, and do you know how long that can take, if ever? It's up to people like you to do the job. And you can charge them whatever tickles your fancy and it'll still be a much cheaper price in their eyes than watching their child slowly rot away. Everybody wins! Except for the kid, that PTS is gonna hit and hit hard."

An unimpressed pair of brown eyes looked back at him with disappointment. "It still doesn't pay off for working with kids. So, no."

"How about this? I also got word the demon behind this could be one of the guys you agreed to take on. So you are bound by contract and you are still going to do it." Bill's golden eye shone a heavy glow, full of himself, when his words sank on Lena. The strumming on the guitar stopped as she muttered a few curses at him under her breath. He replied with a smile, baring his sharp teeth. "Oh, don't get mad at me, Blackstar. We are going to have so much fun."

"You are a sadistic bastard, you know that, don't you?" Lena replied.

"Sadistic? You are so cruel." Bill cried, faking dismay. "All my hard work holding back my impending need to go on a murderous rampage, and you won't even appreciate it."

The corner of Lena's lips unwillingly curved into a shy smile, she rose quickly from the bed when she noticed Bill smiling back at her, and headed to the bathroom. He would be much easier to hate if he wasn't that handsome, she thought.

"So, where are we going?" She called as she closed the door behind her.

"East." Replied Bill.

"East, like Howth?" Asked Lena.

"Mmmh… More like London."

The bathroom door opened and Lena's head popped in. "London?!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, love, but Dublin is not exactly the centre of the world." Bill dropped on Lena's bed with her computer on his lap. "There'll be some traveling if we want to stay one step ahead of our enemies and widen your resume." He explained before signing in a popular video-sharing website to watch videos of decomposing animals.

Lena sighed. She truly hoped he was right about the money.

* * *

Life, movement, noise; London greeted Lena with red buses, black cabs and gray rainy clouds. The umbrella bearing pedestrians battled against each other, business people, tourists, students, kids. She struggled with a huge London map as she walked down Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, unable to access faster, more practical means of finding her way around the city after she smashed her previous cellphone due to Bill's pranks. The staff at her hostel in central London had been kind enough to provide her with a tourist map, which she had used to scry the demon infested family. Bill had taught her the basics of dowsing by swinging a crystal pendulum on a map to pinpoint the location of whatever she wanted to find.

Bill had been disgusted by the idea of staying in a room with ten other people, the only type of accommodation Lena could afford, but came around after messing with the hostel's bookings and changed all previous reservations so that they would have the bedroom all for themselves. Lena couldn't complain, but the three German back packers and the French family of five that were kicked out upon arrival certainly did.

"Why don't we go to the London Tower, Blackstar?" Asked Bill, merrily. "Or maybe we can go to the London Eye, and get it stuck in the middle of the riddle, I'm sure people will panic and we'll get at least one heart attack out of it" He was wearing a weather ready black parka with golden lining and dark washed jeans with dark snow boots. Black sunglasses hid his peculiar eye away from curious onlookers, but unfortunately there were still more than plenty. People would constantly stare at him as he walked by, both male and female, making Lena extremely awkward. If he was a human, he would be considered out of her league by common consent. He would be out of anyone's league, actually, except for a couple of Russian supermodels. But Bill didn't care about any of that. He treated the rest of mankind with utter contempt, dismissing any attempt of interaction by either intimidation; flashing his golden, cat-like eye and deepening the echo of his voice to scare people away, or by ignoring the person trying to approach him altogether, as if they didn't even exist.

"No, Bill." Dismissed Lena quietly, not entirely paying attention to Bill's proposal. "Maybe later."

"You are no fun, you know that?" He complained, crossing his arms.

"I just want to get this done as soon as possible. This little trip of yours is costing me at least half of what I got in my savings account, you know?" Lena said. She put down her map, scratched her head and looked around, helplessly. "We should be close to our soon-to-be client, but ever since we set foot out of Brixton Station the pendulum stopped working.

Lena folded the map and pocketed before taking out a cigarette. She put it in her lips and lit it after conjuring a tiny blue flame in her index finger, a small trick she had learned from Bill.

"Don't you see what's going on?" Asked Bill. "Where are close enough for him to block your scrying. You are not strong enough to counter this kind of influence, not just yet, but if you concentrate you will be able to sense him."

"You said the same thing about Kryptos, and I didn't feel a things." Said Lena, puffing on her cigarette. "Can you feel him and just tell me where he is?"

"Of course I know where he is! but you need to learn to do this on your own." The demon snatched the cigarette from Lena's lips. "Nicotine isn't gonna help."

"Give it back!" Said Lena, reaching for the cigarette that Bill above her, slightly out of reach.

"Maybe later." Smirked Bill as he gently pushed her away. "Now concentrate."

Lena let out a big sigh in frustration before she closed her eyes. Was she supposed to keep her eyes shut? She wasn't sure. But that's how people in movies usually did it. She remembered movies like Star Wars, and how the Jedi were taught to meditate. Was this something like that? Was concentrating the same as meditating? Perhaps her mind was wandering off, wasn't it?

"Blackstar, focus!" She felt a hand on her shoulder and a triangle of golden light flashed in her mind's eye. "This ain't the time for your mental rambling. Empty your thoughts. Focus on what you feel."

A small hiss left her mouth as she resumed her search following Bill's instructions. She never imagined thinking about nothing could be so frustrating. She ripped every thought that popped in out of her consciousness, over and over again, until there was nothing left in there to think. Soon it was blank, filled with void.

Silence.

And then, a weak pulse, soft as a heartbeat, tinged in her mind.

A spark.

"Help!" it cried, making Lena's nerves fire up.

Lena snapped out and looked at Bill with urgency in her eyes. She grabbed his hand without saying a word and ran west a few blocks down the street before coming to a sudden stop in front of a squattish, squarish house made of brick, with four windows set in the front. A small petunia garden had been planted in front, and although it had obviously once been carefully planned and loved, it was now riddled with weeds.

"This… is… it." Said Lena, gasping for air, as she released Bill's hand. Bill inspected the building carefully with his golden eye.

"You are correct, this is it!" He exclaimed. "So, did you feel the demon inside?"

"No." Answered Lena. Bill raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Someone else brought me here. Someone crying for help. Perhaps it's the kid."

"That's… unusual." Bill said. "I didn't pick up on that."

Lena shrugged. "Well, I guess that if a demon is waging war on you then you might just not be in the right mood to contact a different demon to help you out right?"

Bill nodded. "Well it does make sense, doesn't it?"

"So, how are we going to do this?" Asked Lena, placing her hands on her hips.

"We ring the bell and tell them we are here to exorcise their child for a reasonable fee." Bill replied.

"You are joking, right?" Asked Lena, but Bill's index finger was already hard pressed on the doorbell button. Lena sighed. "Of course you are not."


End file.
